1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine.
2. Related Background Art
In general, slot machines, video slot machines, and the like placed in casinos and arcades are provided with decorations by which kinds of gaming machines are discernible at a glance even from a distance. However, decorating a cabinet itself is problematic in that the cabinet loses its versatility, so that it fails to be reused, increases the manufacturing cost, and so forth. Therefore, in this regard, many gaming machines are decorated such that a semitransparent decorative panel is fitted therein and electrically illuminated from behind so as to make designs formed on the panel visible.
Specifically, a console to be operated by gamers and a display unit for displaying details of games are disposed at a position relatively close to the eye level of gamers, whereas the above-mentioned decorative panel is incorporated above and/or below these units.
Conventionally, such a decorative panel had been fixed beforehand to a frame covering surroundings of the decorative panel, and then the frame has been attached to a gaming machine (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-631). Examples of methods for mounting the frame to the gaming machine include those fitting individual sides of the frame into the gaming machine, those attaching the frame to the gaming machine in a door-like fashion, etc.